Reality check: when it comes to public education, Greens oust Bacchus, pick NPA to run school board

Civic voters who cast ballots for Green Party candidates, thinking the Greens were generally aligned with Vision Vancouver, got a big reality check last night when Green school trustee Janet Fraser cast her deciding vote to reject top vote-getter Patty Bacchus as school board chair over NPA newcomer Christopher Richardson.

This was no random act by an experienced new trustee. Janet Fraser had the swing vote on a board with four Vision trustees and four NPA.

Local Green Party leader Adriane Carr was watching from the audience, as was NPA mayoral candidate Kirk Lapointe. Carr was personally involved in pre-meeting Green party exchanges with Vision trustees which left no doubt she opposed Bacchus as chair, even though Bacchus had topped the polls.

No wonder Lapointe tweeted his glee at Richardson’s win. The Greens gave the NPA an edge they did not earn at the polls, despite direct aid from the Vancouver Sun editorial board, which let the husband of Lapointe’s communications director write a scathing and misleading editorial denouncing Bacchus just days before the vote for her stand against Chevron funding.

What next for Fraser? A yes vote from the Green trustee to bring Big Oil into the classroom?

We know what the future holds for Bacchus. She has been the province’s leading advocate for public education and an outstanding leader of the fight to protect Vancouver’s schools from ever-deeper cuts. That won’t change.